“I am the Immortal King.”
Summary
Shiro and Kuroh manage to locate Kukuri and the spirit possessing her, with Shiro tricking the spirit into leaving Kukuri’s body and taking control of it temporarily within his body. He then heads to the location of the battle between Mikoto and Munakata, interrupting it and inviting Mikoto to end it all by killing both Shiro and the Colourless King.
Vantage’s Impression
Everything somehow managed to come to a close this episode, and we saw the conclusion of pretty much all the various tangents the show has gone off on these past few weeks. Even the Fushimi vs Yata confrontation seems to have at least died down for now, and despite their differences the one thing the two have in common with each other is respect for Mikoto, even though the way in which they express themselves over it is exactly the opposite. Fushimi seems to dislike those who have big hearts and compassion, noting it to be a trait common among more than one king – and similarly, Weismann goes on about how he believes each king is actually a sad and lonely person due to the solitary path they must walk down, perhaps brought about by the heavy responsibilities and power that comes with the job. Despite having clansmen, they’re just too far apart from being able to walk down the same path as a king, and that might be why kings clash with and are attracted to each other instead.
I’m glad the whole Kukuri issue was solved as well. I had a feeling the spirit wasn’t exactly fully sane last week with its various mental issues, but having multiple personalities due to taking over too many bodies definitely can’t be good for it – as Shiro said, the Colourless King has lost his own sense of self, which is a pretty apt description for a spirit that interacts with the world by possessing various bodies. The cries for help in between the spirit’s discussion with itself was most likely the real Kukuri, whose voice was sometimes used by the spirit to try and trick Shiro and Kuroh into not harming her. Shiro was actually rather smart in remembering that Kukuri had lost all her memories of him and therefore didn’t know his name, which resulted in the spirit entering Weismann’s body nonetheless, except without him having full control.
The plan Shiro ended up putting into action in order to resolve everything was something only he could do. I’d never actually thought of that happening, but it’s a good plan – and required the spirit to be contained inside Shiro’s body anyway. By taking in the Colourless King and forcing him in front of the battle between Mikoto and Munakata, it would allow Mikoto to have a free shot at killing the spirit as revenge for Tatara Totsuka – because only a king can kill another king. Therefore both souls inside Shiro’s body, Weismann and the spirit would die – or in this case, only the spirit, because Weismann is immortal. It’s something that would only work in Shiro, because having Mikoto kill the spirit while it was possessing Kukuri would have resulted in Kukuri’s inadvertent death as well, which was something Shiro wasn’t willing to do.
Of course, having Mikoto use up enough power to kill a king meant that his Sword of Damocles couldn’t take it any more, and started collapsing – resulting in Munakata being forced to kill him before his sword fell and caused a repeat of the Kagutsu Crater incident. It’s really sad – Munakata might have felt it was his duty to kill Mikoto as a fellow king and as the head of Scepter 4, but as Munakata Reisi, it was the worst outcome for him, having to watch his friend die at his own hands. I did hope that Weismann would have some sort of tactic to save Mikoto, but then again, if his Sword of Damocles was on its last legs anyway, it’s good that he was able to die so peacefully knowing he’d avenged his clansman. While the HOMRA members (especially Anna) might be devastated, Mikoto’s spirit definitely lives on in the clan, and burns a bright red – even in someone as unlikely as Fushimi, who did care in the end.
I don’t believe Shiro is dead at all, with a second season having been officially announced today and Weismann’s spirit being immortal anyway. Everything looks pretty wrapped up to me (if you ignore some of the gaping plot holes) and things seem to be at peace, so I can only imagine some sort of new enemy or danger on the horizon to kick off a new plot for the show. This show as a whole served to be interesting at some points and really irritating at others, but I do believe that overall it was an entertaining run despite its faults, and there’s a decent chance that I’d cover the sequel, whenever it ends up airing.
Eva’s Final Impression:
SNIFFLE I can’t believe it, wow- this episode moved me to tears. I didn’t actually think they’d kill off Mikoto- but that was probably that small part of me praying for a chance of survival. However his death scene done by no other than Munakata and his clan grieving for him was a bittersweet ending. This is what Mikoto had wanted, and he was able to successfully have his revenge against the Colorless King, and it was the Silver King who made this all possible by taking a big risk of trapping the Colorless King within him, and allows the Red King to slay him. And with that he was at peace.
Munakata, the Blue King really took the toll. Personally, not as a King, but as a friend he really didn’t want to have to kill Mikoto if he had to. If he could, he wanted to save him. Unfortunately Munakata was forced to kill him in order to prevent a disaster.
If the Silver King’s immortality works as it’s supposed to. Despite being corrupted, and his Sword of Damocles having disintegrated there’s a chance that his soul had survived- and perhaps we will only find out if that had truly happened in the second season.
Overall, K was definitely the wild card of the season. It was much anticipated, but quickly led to a disappointment since there were many plot-holes. However during the last three episodes, they managed to pull through and deliver the impact that it was lacking during the first half of the show. The fact they were able to make me emotional during these past few episodes, shows that they managed to pull through. Fortunately there will be a second season, so this does give us a chance to get some answers on the many plot holes, and hopefully learn more about the characters. Before they add anymore, they should focus with what they have already and fill up those plot-holes before they create anymore. The biggest problem with this series was the lack of character depth. We were lucky that we were able to see at least some depth and background on Mikoto’s character. If not, his death probably wouldn’t have been anywhere close as emotional as it is now.
On the extra note: BROMANCE, EVERYWHERE.